Looking for a class recommendation

I'm a long time dormant player who has played a ton on the other games since their release, and haven't played for the past 7 or so years at all. I'm completely out of the loop.

I've retired a bunch of characters and expect to have around 8-9000 credits available to put into a new character. I've asked a bunch of people advice and gotten some solid suggestions, but I'd like to float ideas here before I commit.

I'd like a class that is:

Not awful at bashing, preferably great with bashing with the kind of credits I have on hand. I prefer bashing to pvp and would like to have a run at dragon.

Has combat that isn't heinously complicated (so probably no Serpent). Something that can be straightforward but also has strategy and options would be ideal (like Knight can, for instance)

Preferably has some personal utility, and some group/general utility for others for social reasons

For reference in the other games I have been successful with knights, vampire classes, and wardancer. I was a fairly mediocre hunter,

I've done a bunch of reading and talking and the number 1 suggestion is runewarden for the following reasons:

Can be a part of every city/council

Flexible with 4 specs to change between

Very tanky and solid basher

Good utility for groups

I just feel though that it is a bit... boring. I've been looking at Sylvan which looks interesting, but it seems to be tied very heavily to Eleusis. I'm not crazy about that because from experiences with forest councils in other realms the RP can get a little... My Little Ponyish, and it's not what I'd like to pursue. I know I don't have to be that way, but yeah. I'll start a character there to explore and see how I like it.

Here are my thoughts class by class:

Alchemist

Don't know much about this class and can't figure out much from the wiki.

Apostate

Played in Imperian, I like it but not interested right now.

Bard

I hear it bashes well. Looks like it plays like M

Blademaster

Completely ignorant here but I hear it bashes like crap.

Druid

Don't know anything - how does it compare to Sylvan?

Infernal

Very interested, probably #2 after runewarden in choice.

Jester

Don't know anything about it, but the RP turns me off a bit.

Magi

Not interested.

Monk

Played extensively in Imperian and Aetolia, hear it was nerfed here bashing wise. Not really interested.

Occultist

Not really interested

Paladin

Probably priority #3 unless I find something more interesting in a non-knight class

Priest

Don't know much, I hear it tanks like a brick and got their bashing nerfed recently

Runewarden

#1 choice if I don't find anything better

Sentinel

Not really interested, played a lot in Imperian

Serpent

I expect that the combat is too complicated for what I'm looking for. I hear the bashing is the best in game.

Shaman

Don't know much about this.

Sylvan

Quite interested, will investigate

At this point I think I'll just level a character to 80 and do some f2p PVP and see what I like the look of. But, if anyone can suggest places and classes that might suit it would help me on my way.

Serpent combat is nowhere near as complicated as people make it out to be. Once you know what each venom does (ie Kalmia stops smoking, curare stops active tree etc), then its just a matter of "sticking" your affliction.

Runewarden you'll find to be generally pretty good on all fronts, I think - it has different specialisations with different ways of doing things, and a decent amount of utility, plus yes, it is very tanky for bashing purposes. If you're going for not-complicated combat, 2h Runie is fairly straightforward in building fracture momentum while also pressuring health, and if you're rolling with max-STR and a L3 bastard sword (since you said you'll have 8000-9000 credits to work with) you'll be in a pretty good place to start. Although a L3 hammer will be faster with breaks.

Serpent bashing is very fast, but you're also fragile unless you really artie out. Bard is slightly slower than Serpent, but it's a lot tankier (though, again, you'll need to be super-artied, and its combat is relatively complex with the different balances, harmonics etc.).

- (Eleusis): Ellodin says, "The Fissure of Echoes is Sarathai's happy place."- With sharp, crackling tones, Kyrra tells you, "The ladies must love you immensely."- (Eleusian Ranger Techs): Savira says, "Most of the hard stuff seem to have this built in code like: If adventurer_hitting_me = "Sarathai" then send("terminate and selfdestruct")."- Makarios says, "Serve well and perish."- Xaden says, "Xaden confirmed scrub 2017."

Serpent combat is nowhere near as complicated as people make it out to be. Once you know what each venom does (ie Kalmia stops smoking, curare stops active tree etc), then its just a matter of "sticking" your affliction.C

Can you accurately track what afflictions your enemy has here? Like, if they use a tree tattoo is there any ability that I can get which will tell me what they have cured off? Or do I have to track that from inferences, like if they smoke I know they cured asthma? It's this kind of tracking where I fail as a serpent class. When I'm playing as a knight I just kinda hit them until they die, or are obviously setup for a disembowel etc.

Runewarden you'll find to be generally pretty good on all fronts, I think - it has different specialisations with different ways of doing things, and a decent amount of utility, plus yes, it is very tanky for bashing purposes. If you're going for not-complicated combat, 2h Runie is fairly straightforward in building fracture momentum while also pressuring health, and if you're rolling with max-STR and a L3 bastard sword (since you said you'll have 8000-9000 credits to work with) you'll be in a pretty good place to start. Although a L3 hammer will be faster with breaks.

Serpent bashing is very fast, but you're also fragile unless you really artie out. Bard is slightly slower than Serpent, but it's a lot tankier (though, again, you'll need to be super-artied, and its combat is relatively complex with the different balances, harmonics etc.).

Thanks for the detailed advice. I assume that I wouldn't have enough credits to be anywhere near super artied for bashing, as a Bard...

Priest bashing with an artie mace should be good, though I'm no expert. Sylvan is a great bashing class, you get armor, class defs, some travel abilities. Used to get a sip bonus too but I have no idea if they still do. I was never a sylvan myself but I partnered up with one or two on the way to Dragon, when monk was the king of bashers, and they were every bit as good (if not better than) my Xoran monk.

Sylvan is pretty good for bashing. You'll definitely want con arties and a diadem. They definitely work well in group combat. You have your staff for grove lightning, so you can range with a group and you have a lot of options for close combat. Groves have a lot of utility as long as you're in a forest (staff can use some abilities with stored sunlight). Only thing is you're going to have to choose Eleusis. They have a very easy kill route with heartseed which will kill most midbies because people for some reason don't know how to cure it. There are much more complicated kill routes when you include weatherweaving, but it's super fun to learn. So if you're a tree lover (which you should be), it's a fun class.

Serpent combat is nowhere near as complicated as people make it out to be. Once you know what each venom does (ie Kalmia stops smoking, curare stops active tree etc), then its just a matter of "sticking" your affliction.

Serpent combat is nowhere near as complicated as people make it out to be. Once you know what each venom does (ie Kalmia stops smoking, curare stops active tree etc), then its just a matter of "sticking" your affliction.

Looks like you're pretty keen on Knight classes but there are a couple of non-knight physical classes worth considering.

Sentinel is quite different here to what you would have found in Imperian, but probably fails the non-heinously-complex combat requirement. Sentinel strategies aren't particularly complex, but optimizing your pets can be a lot of fiddling with scripts or millions of aliases.

I think Druid would be worth a look though. It has: - simple strategies, mostly limb prep into damage stacking or limb based instant kill - lots of personal and group utility with groves (wildgrowth, vigour, remedy, harmony, cure, rain, resurrection, hive, portability) and metamorphosis (track, block, vitality, view, fitness, might) - if you want to use it, lots of potential for complexity and tricks centered around things you can do in Hydra form with 3 simultaneous attack balances. - Reclamation is a type of functionality unique in Achaea. Sort of like a demesne from Lusternia. - druid scales very well with artifacts and one of its main strategies is based on damage.

Serpent combat is nowhere near as complicated as people make it out to be. Once you know what each venom does (ie Kalmia stops smoking, curare stops active tree etc), then its just a matter of "sticking" your affliction.

Looks like you're pretty keen on Knight classes but there are a couple of non-knight physical classes worth considering.

Sentinel is quite different here to what you would have found in Imperian, but probably fails the non-heinously-complex combat requirement. Sentinel strategies aren't particularly complex, but optimizing your pets can be a lot of fiddling with scripts or millions of aliases.

I think Druid would be worth a look though. It has: - simple strategies, mostly limb prep into damage stacking or limb based instant kill - lots of personal and group utility with groves (wildgrowth, vigour, remedy, harmony, cure, rain, resurrection, hive, portability) and metamorphosis (track, block, vitality, view, fitness, might) - if you want to use it, lots of potential for complexity and tricks centered around things you can do in Hydra form with 3 simultaneous attack balances. - Reclamation is a type of functionality unique in Achaea. Sort of like a demesne from Lusternia. - druid scales very well with artifacts and one of its main strategies is based on damage.

Thanks, this is good info. I don't know anything about demesne from Lusternia, but I will go read the wiki for reclamation.